Catching Up

Since our visit to the house at Thanksgiving, time has been dragging. Freight this year has slacked off significantly, or at least it seems to have. Probably a person would think that it was the holidays causing it, but really, we've kept moving through the holidays in years past. And talking to other drivers, we're hearing the same complaints. Slow freight, low rates, and boggled up loads.

 

Overall, it's working out alright, but we've hit a slump here and there that left us bored and cranky. We had a couple of loads rejected too and that's always frustrating because it wastes our time, even though we still get paid for hauling the stuff.

 

And we had a couple days, both Monday's actually, where a decent load couldn't be found and we wound up sitting all day twiddling our thumbs. Something we're not used to doing.

 

With all that, my motivation for blogging was down. You'd think with all that spare time I'd have been on it. Something to entertain myself with! But given the blah mood it brought on, and the fact that I've had my nose glued to my Kindle during every spare moment lately, as I've stumbled across some really good books, the blogging got neglected.

 

So it's time to play catch up.

 

Two weekends ago, we headed north out of Phoenix, spent the night at Las Vegas, and the next day drove up US93 through eastern Nevada.

There's a lot of vacant land out there. US 93 goes up through the Great Basin National Park. We take a short cut and go off 93 for a bit in order to stay going straight north instead of swerving east. So we miss the park itself, but the scenery on the rest of 93 is still admirable. I think the most striking things about the region are...

 

...the almost absolute emptiness. We passed through about 4 "towns" in about 300 miles.

 

And also the patterns in the mountain sides are quite interesting. With a lack of trees and really much any kind of vegetation, you can admire the geology of the area from your car window. There was a lot of activity here eons ago. You can tell the ground was busy moving around.

fascinated by that black stripe of rock running through the mountain

its hard to tell what was going on here. Earthquakes? Floods? Those swirling lines of rock could keep you guessing for quite a while.



We delivered northeast of Boise Idaho on Monday morning (Dec. 3) and then sat all day long waiting to see what would come up. And the answer was nothing. Finally, Monday evening, we got directions to head to Caldwell, ID (near Boise) to load apples in the morning.

 

So Tuesday morning we loaded up apples...

...and headed to an unexpected location. The times in the past that we've hauled apples, they either went to Petaluma, CA or to Wisconsin. But these apples went to a town near Grand Junction, CO.  There was, to my great surprise, several wineries, vinyards, orchards, and this little juice making company where we delivered. I never would have thought the arid climate in western Colorado could have supported fruit, but apparently it does.

 

From there, we bounced down to Monte Vista, where we were a couple weeks earlier, and loaded canola.

 

Back to Idaho, near Rexburg, for a Thursday morning delivery and then we went down to southern Idaho and loaded fertilizer.

 

Interesting frustration occurred in Colorado. Out of the blue, I got wrapped up in a massive allergy battle. Violent sneezing, itchy watery eyes, sniffles......in Colorado....in December! I was very aggravated, as the winter is supposed to be my time of allergy liberation. What was up with that? The allergies followed me all they way to Idaho and persisted in annoying me throughout the day on Thursday.

winter skies near Soda Springs, ID







In fact I didn't find relief until I climbed into the mountains of the Yellowstone area near the MT/ID state line. My allergies cleared up right about the time the tires started slipping and sliding around on icy roads. And by Yellowstone the freezing rain had turned to snow, and I was breathing clearly. I guess there was just enough dust and garbage in the air to make us allergy victims suffer. Clearly, it's a dry winter following a too dry summer.

 

Crossing into Montana was like flipping a switch. All of a sudden we found winter, and it's been following us around ever since. We were on snowy roads almost all the way to Billings, and past that, though it dried up, it was still bitterly cold.  By the time we got to North Dakota Friday morning with our fertilizer, it was 6 degrees and a heavy fog was just lifting, at least the fog that hadn't frozen to every surface available.

Frozen fog can be messy, but it sure is pretty!

w

Since the load of apples, things had run smoothly, but we hit another glitch in North Dakota. After unloading, we were going to take a load of flax to Ohio. But the trailer had to be washed out first which presented a huge problem.

First and foremost, the closest place to washout was 160 miles away, in the wrong direction, from our reload, which was only 20 miles away. And a bigger issue was that even if we could find a place to wash out, at 6 degrees, the trailer doesn't wash. It freezes. The broker asked if we could just sweep really really well, but they turned that request down. No washout, no load.

So we sat around in northern ND for most of the day, and finally towards evening we got a load of safflower from Fairview, MT and headed south towards Colorado. 600 miles and the whole weekend to get it done. So we took our time, played some, rested lots, and made the best of it.

 

I'lll tell you about the weekend in the next post.





Western Travels and A Story of Devoted Friendship



in Illinois on Monday

 I snapped that picture just as we were leaving Illinois on our way west. Funny how sometimes my "quick snap it and cross your fingers" pictures turn out to be my favorites.

Right after that we crossed the mighty Mississippi River...

...and entered a very famous and historic town in Missouri.

Do you recognize the name of this town and why it's famous? Hannibal is the boyhood home of author Mark Twain, as well as the setting for two of his most famous novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! We didn't get to see much of the town, because it's not right on the main highway that we passed through on, but it was still neat to be in the area, and we did get a glimpse of town as we crossed the river.

We drove all night and all the next day and reached Reno by midnight Tuesday to deliver.

The next morning, we headed south into Nevada's vast and rustic wilderness. For a while we were on the main highway that cuts between Reno and Las Vegas, where we were traveling with other trucks and tourists, though not too many.

 After a hundred miles or so, we cut off onto a more obscure road and headed over towards a little place called Silver Peak.

Silver Peak is one of the oldest mining towns in Nevada. Silver was discovered in the area in 1863 and the town was established the following year. We didn't get to actually see the town, or what there may be of one still, because we had to leave the main road just north of town to go out to the Heart of Nature mine where we picked up a load of gypsum.

Of all the types of trucking you can do, I think maybe this one gives you the most diverse experiences and takes us to the most exotic places.

The mine wasn't an underground one. It was a big pit, with just two men there working.

They had a pile of pick axes and other debris they had gathered as they ran across it. The mine had been in operation since the 1800's so they were coming across lots of old and interesting things.

The gypsum went to Idaho, taking me on a long drive diagonally across Nevada's outback on highway 6. It was an awesome way to spend the day. I think I only passed 15-20 vehicles the entire day, and it was about 250 mile across there! I love driving around in Nevada's empty spaces!

love this! It's the never ending road!

We delivered in Soda Springs, ID the next morning,



I always admire this old homestead lost in a vast wheat field. Everytime we drive by it draws my attention.

 and from there we went to Pocatello and reloaded fertilizer. Then we headed north to Fort Benton, MT. We stopped last night in Great Falls and had dinner with Malcolm's sister and her husband. We hadn't seen them in almost a year and it was so much fun to get to catch up over pizza with lots of laughs and stories to share. Hope we can do that again soon.

After dinner, we drove the last 40 miles to Fort Benton, where we are unloading now.

The fertilizer place is up on one of the hills overlooking the town, so I've been enjoying the view, the cloudy weather (hope it rains for them!), and the cool breeze. It's in the mid-70's which is just comfortable enough to have the truck turned off and the windows open.

We are parked along the rail road tracks here...

 ...and across the tracks, as we pulled in last night, we noticed an odd monument on the hill, all lit up by spot lights and over looking the town.


it's over on the tip of the hill to the right



Malcolm asked about it this morning, while we were waiting our turn to unload, and then came back to tell me the story and have me look it up. Turns out the monument is the grave of a locally famous sheep dog.

a picture of Shep, from the website linked to below

I know many of my blog friends are animal loves, and there are many dog enthusiasts among you. I had to share this story with you because I was so touched by it. You simply must take the time to go read Shep's story here. There is also a statue in the town square that I would love to see, but we won't be able to. This truck enables me to see so many sights, and also restricts me in my touring. It's a bitter sweet thing for me! But maybe one day I can come back and go to the square so I can see the wonderful tribute this town has made to a good and faithful dog, as well as many others. And if you still have time, you also need to go read the Eulogy on the Dog that is on the website. I found it very touching and even almost teared up a bit, thinking of how every word of it is so true. God did an amazing thing when he created dogs and gave them a love for us. I think He knew there would be times when we would need a friendship that another human just couldn't provide.

We're reloading south of here. Another load of barley headed to Minnesota for the weekend. We're thinking we'll just take a lazy weekend to get across. A few miles one day, a few more the next, a trip to get groceries and supplies, and maybe dinner with Malcolm's other sister in Bismarck.

Summer Clouds and Hodge Podge

I have always loved weather, of all kinds in all seasons. But there is just something about summer clouds that always makes me look. I don't mean just glance and smile. I mean I sit there and watch and examine and admire. I can do it all afternoon, especially if there is a front porch with a rocking chair or a swing and a glass of iced tea. (I'm talking about my mom's front porch and of course she's out there with me.) Storm watching from the porch has always been one of our favorite mother/daughter activities.

But I digress.

I like to watch summer clouds, and this week I found several to admire. Early in the week, there was this little cluster, making an appearance at dawn. They were the only clouds for miles and miles. The only ones in the sky.

And then yesterday afternoon, again in Idaho, there were some lovely puffy storm clouds starting to pile up. They always get me excited, even when they really aren't going to do anything.

Of course I may have been mistaken in my assumption that they weren't going to do anything. By the time we got through Yellowstone and back up to the interstate, there were some ominous looking storm clouds pouring out of the mountains surrounding Yellowstone National Park. We were fortunate enough to get to admire them, without having to experience their might.

I love this picture!

Early this morning, between the hours of 1:00am and 3:00am, eastern Montana put on a spectacular light show! It really was impressive. I enjoyed the show but kept hoping that there weren't any grass fires being set. It went on for quite a few hours before I finally caught up with it at the border. Fifteen minutes of hard rain and it was over. I bet the clouds were impressive.

Summer is the season for storms, and I love getting to watch them as we travel. There is nothing like watching storms in the mid-west where you can watch them for miles and miles as you travel. It passes the time.

Yesterday when we pulled into Paul, ID to unload I was delighted to discover that they had babies. There were a few little pastures surrounding the fertilizer plant and there were three babies. PAINT BABIES!

Of course no one wanted to cooperate with me and my camera...

 

 ...or even just let me look and admire. Everyone was being shy, and it wasn't the type of place where I could get out and go visit. It sure did make me miss having babies around! My turn will come...next summer!

Another bit of exciting news I thought I'd share. In my freshman college lit class, the girl who sat behind me on the first day became a good friend. We've stayed in touch over the years, even though we lived in different towns and our lives took different paths. Her husband and I hit it off pretty well too, especially after discovering we were both avid Civil War enthusiasts. Marc is a neat guy with many talents, one of which is writing. He has a blog, The Perfect Drift. He's big time into trout fishing. So I wanted to brag on him a bit. I was so thrilled for him last night when I opened facebook and saw Jill's post congratulation her husband on his big win. Marc won the grand prize in the Outdoor Blogger Networks' contest, for a blog post he did concerning trout in Yellowstone.  The grand prize is a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Sounds like they have some neat things for him to participate in while he's there, including, of course, some trout fishing time! So congratulations Marc on a job well done! I'm glad your getting some recognition for your exceptional writing! Enjoy the trip!

We're almost loaded up with fertilizer and about to head to the house for an evening and morning. Then it's back on the road to deliver in Idaho on Thursday afternoon, reload potatoes Friday, bring them to North Dakota on Saturday, and then.......AND THEN........TWO WEEKS AT HOME! 

Yep, six weeks on the road and it's time for another "vacation."

From Bend to the Border

I hope your not tired of eastern Oregon after my last post, because I have more pictures from another trip.

 On Wednesday, we loaded fertilizer in Halsey, OR. That's south a bit from Portland. After loading, we headed east on US20. We hadn't driven that first section of 20, over the mountains, before, so I was stingy and just enjoyed the scenery without taking pictures to share. Oh, and what scenery it was! I doubt we'll ever go that way again, because it was pretty winding and we lost time. But it was also very scenic, so, though you probably won't ever get to see it here, I do hope you'll get to see it in person one day.

"Over the rivers and through the woods." That was on the Oregon Scenic Byway signs, and I thought it was cute and appropriate. Eventually we came out of the woods into Bend, OR. From that point, it was all old territory. Old, but never dull. As you read last week, I love eastern Oregon.

 The section between Bend and Burns is wide open and empty. You can look out the window and clearly see why they call this the high desert. But don't take "desert" and associate it with "devoid of life." This land is rich in plant and animal life. Grass may be a bit sparse in places, but sage brush and cedar shrubs aren't, and there's still enough grass to support some cattle ranches. As far as wildlife goes, it's out there. Antelope, coyotes, deer, and even wild horses. I've never seen the wild horses, but as you approach Burns, you pass the BLM wild horse corrals, so you know they are out there. I've also seen the pictures on the blog Life at the Rough String. Yep, this is Rough String country! If you've not been to Karen's blog, or if your hankering to read more about life in eastern Oregon, the Rough String is a great place to start!

I didn't get pictures in Burns because school was letting out and traffic was kind of heavy so I stayed busy with that. But it's a neat little town in an oasis in the desert. The fields around Burns turn into wetlands in the Spring, and though they weren't as saturated as they were a few weeks ago when we went through, there were still plenty of water foul hanging around to admire.

A little ways east of Burns, the landscape starts to change. Those blue hills that were visible in all directions on the horizon between Bend and Burns are suddenly very present, and not just hinted at by distant vistas.

 Every few miles, you find yourself deeper into the hills.

 It's some rough country, but they still have farms and ranches here. They are just have a few more miles stretching between each other than they do in greener pastures.

 There will be gaps in the hills where the farm and ranch homes are. And then the road tucks back into the rocky hill passes.

 Eventually the hills start to thin out and its farther between the passes

 About 30 miles before you get to the border, the road passes through the second town it keeps company with, which is Vale.

 Thirty miles later Oregon says goodbye.

 ....and Idaho welcomes you.  We stopped at the rest area on the border to let the girls out and enjoyed the view looking back into Oregon.

And then it was time to look ahead, towards the east.

From Bend to the border is a trip of about 260 miles. Beautiful scenery stretched out between two rural towns, a great way to spend the day on the road.

 We delivered in Colorado the next morning. Our week, from last Saturday morning to present. As you can see, we've had a more varied route than we did the previous week.

Today we delivered in Twin Falls, ID. We're supposed to load potatoes and take them to North Dakota next, but they don't want to load us till in the morning. An entire day to.....catch up on sleep.....and more entertaining, an entire day to go SHOPPING! I just happen to know where there's a good size parking lot in Twin Falls that's within easy walking distance of a Barnes and Noble bookstore and a few other shops. I've had a "let's go shopping" bug nibbling at me the last few days. So Malcolm and the girls are going to sleep, and I'm going out on the town!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lessons

I learned a few lessons this weekend. Let me share them with you.

Friday evening we loaded potatoes in northeast Idaho. We were last in a line of about 20 trucks when we pulled in and it was about 5 hours before they got to us.

They were supposed to stop loading at 6:00pm. By 8:00, when they finally got to us, it had gotten windy and stormy. There was lightening and thunder, rain splatters on the windshield, and it was getting dark fast. There were 3 more trucks behind us, and thankfully they had committed to finishing loading all of us.

Malcolm drove us over the gravel short cut to US20, and then I took over around 10:00pm or so. Up through Yellowstone country and then east across Montana. Malcolm took back over 40 miles east of Billings around 4:00am, and I went to  bed.

An hour later, he woke me up. We were almost to Miles City and he had been thinking how silly it was to go deliver in Grand Forks that afternoon and then sit there till Monday morning when we could go home. And was that ok with me? If we just went home?    (as if he needed to ask)

After that, sleep was a lost cause. I maneuvered through the entire day on 1 hour of sleep. The cup of coffee while visiting around the in-laws kitchen table helped.

We had arrived just in time for bottle feeding. I'd made friends with these little ones while we were home the previous 2 weeks, but apparently a week's absence is just long enough to become a stranger. At least the twins weren't shy.

 Of course their excitement wasn't about my return. It was more over the arrival of breakfast.

 This little red one is so cute. I have a thing for red calves. Unfortunately he's a bull.

 In fact, out of the 6, only one is a heifer, and that's one of the twins. So no bottle babies will be staying on this year, unless another one joins the group. But hopefully everyone else will stay in the pasture.

After feeding, we headed inside where I flipped through my quilting fabric and patterns. Just looking because it's fun to look. Then I went next door and helped my mother-in-law get lunch started. A friend had come over to help work on the basement remodeling, and so she was going to fix lunch for all of us. Which was a lifesaver for me, since I had no groceries really that went together, part of the cause for my inability to return to sleep that morning. My mind wouldn't focus on sleep, but instead kept returning to the issue of what I was going to feed us that day. As it turned out, lunch was D.E.L.I.C.O.U.S! And even better with the fun conversations and visiting going on around the table.

Lunch well on it's way to being ready, I noticed the rain had stopped for the moment, and decided to slip out the door and go see the horses. No trip home is complete until I've been out to visit and check on everyone.  After 5 months in the corral, they were finally out on grass.....and no where to be seen.

 The pastures are rather vast (or rather it seems so to me having grown up where farms were 20-30 acres), and so you have to go looking for the horses, something I don't mind at all. I always enjoy excursions into nature. I'd ride around out there all day long exploring if I could. And really, I could if I'd let myself, but I'd be missed by Malcolm and the girls.

I got distracted several times along the way. First I noticed that the spring wildflowers are finally making an appearance.

 And then I stopped to watch a lone antelope who was watching me. He got tired of watching before I did, and headed off in the other direction.

 I continued on my way, looking off into the horizon for white spots that would indicate the presence of painted ponies. Still didn't see them anywhere, but I did spot this pair of hawks acting strange.

 And then I saw the reason why. They had a nest nearby and I was under surveillance.

 I was tempted to climb up and see what was in it, but I was on a mission and worried the rain was going to catch back up with me.

Ah HA! There they are! In the very back corner, of course!

 That is a scene I so enjoy! So I parked on the side of the hill and just soaked it in, while everyone kept an eye on me to see what I was up to. After a moment I quickly realized something wasn't quite right. But before I could go investigate, I had to get the initial visiting over with.

My boy had finally stopped eating long enough to notice I was there, and he was making fast tracks up the hill to come see me.

 

 Ignoring Sky just sets you up for a lot of harassment. He doesn't understand not being the center of attention. So you just have to love on him before anyone else. And then he only makes a slight nuisance of himself. He will be your constant shadow and sticking his nose into everything you do, regardless of how much you love on him, or push him away.

 His gray is really starting to show this year and he's put on a lot of size this past winter. I'm hoping to have him at a trainer by the end of the summer. Maybe we can have our first ride together in the fall!

 Greetings taken care of....with everyone because by the time Sky was done, the others had congregated around us....I finally got on to the problem I'd spotted from the hillside. And here she is....
....Miss Problem, in the neighbors pasture.

 And not too terribly upset over it or too interested in coming back home.

 She grew a lot this winter too, especially her main and tail! She is now 10 months old and still very much the princess of the pasture. Maybe she was expanding her territory, and felt a need to be princess of the neighbors pasture too.

It wasn't hard to find how she'd managed her little migration. And here is where Ranch Lesson #1 was learned.

*Never Ever Ever go visiting with the horses without a halter and lead rope, just in case.

Gemma is compliant enough that I'm pretty sure I could have led her over the lowest spot or at least to the gate down the way. But she was convinced the grass truly is greener on the other side of the fence, her new side, and wasn't interested in being led with my arm around her neck like she usually is willing to go along with.

 Halter and lead, don't leave home without it!

Why does it look like she's trying to convince big brother to join her in her new kingdom?

 I had no choice but to head back home for help and just hoped that the other 6 wouldn't take it in their minds to defect to the neighbors country. As I drove away they were lined up at the low spot in the fence gazing across at Gemma who was contentedly grazing on her new found "better" grass.

Almost home, I had to stop and open a gate to pass through, and this is where Ranch Lesson #2 kicked in.

As I was struggling with the gate, the four wheeler sputtered and died. *sigh*
Turned the key and nothing. The screen didn't even light up. No sputter, no whir, no click...nothing. (I'll fill you in on what the actual lesson was here in a moment)

So I hiked home, probably about a mile, in muck boots, which really aren't designed for long distance walking. They are a bit bulky and heavy. However, when I had to walk across the stream I was very thankful for the muck boots as I still had dry feet when I got to other side.

I was about 1/4 mile from the house when the pickup pulled out and headed towards me. Finally, I'd been spotted.

My poor husband, my knight in shining armor. By the time he'd changed shoes and we'd collected a chain and halter, the rain had started to drizzle lightly and the wind had picked up a little.

Lesson#3: TAKE THE CAMERA WITH YOU ALWAYS!

I left the camera at home and so there are no more illustrations for the rest of the story. Wish I'd taken one back out. Our first stop, riding double on the other four-wheeler, was the horses. They'd moved down the fence line and were closer in to the buildings, and conveniently standing near a gate!

Malcolm stopped back from them, and I walked in, and climbed across the fence to get Gemma, who had followed them on her "greener grass" side. My horses may not have a lot of skills or knowledge, but they are all very good about letting you walk right up to them and put a halter on them, something I'm eternally grateful for. It was no big issue to halter Gemma and lead her to the gate, where Malcolm was, by this time, waiting for us. The only difficulty was that the gate was standing in a large area of ankle deep mud and Gemma (nor I) really wanted to go in it. But we convinced her to come on across. At some point between my leaving for help and returning, she had tried to cross the fence, resulting in 4-5 fresh ugly red slashes across her chest.

 I know in the prim and proper world, horses are never, ever fenced with barbed wire. But in the realistic world we live in, our horses share pasture with cattle, and so it's all fenced in barbed wire. And yes, it results in the occasional cuts and scrapes. I'm sure some will take issue with me over this, and I don't necessarily like it either. But, like I said, our world is realistic, not perfect, and so am I.

Gemma's cuts were ugly, but not terribly deep. They'll heal and she shouldn't have scars. If I were home, I'd probably get something to put on it just in case, but I'm not and she'll be fine. She's not the first to get cut, and it probably won't be her last cuts either.

Horses happily reunited, we headed on to the next project, but before we got there, I showed Malcolm  the hawk nest. Might as well make the trip enjoyable if we're out there anyway. He wanted to hike up to it, so we did. It was a short climb. There were 4 speckled eggs, a little larger than chicken eggs. Again, no camera, and I'm disgusted with myself over it. But when we return for branding in about three weeks, I bet there will be chicks. We're planning a return trip to see them.

And then back to work. We drove to the back corner where I got my next ranch lesson, something I'd been asking him to show me just a few days prior as we were riding along in the truck one day. There are a number of blogging ranch women whom I read and they all go out and fix fence by themselves. If they can do it, then so can I, or at least this was what I was explaining to Malcolm, if someone (ahem....HIM) would just show me! So, presented with the perfect and necessary moment, Malcolm showed me how to patch together a broken fence. I'm not very strong, but it didn't look to hard, and I figure I can at least patch them together until some serious fixing can be done, should the need arise.

Back to Ranch Lesson #2

On to our final mission, and as he was pulling up to the dead four wheeler I'd abandoned at the gate, he'd already asked me some question concerning what I was doing when it died. And then he asked me if I had flipped the engine power switch.

The what?

Lesson #2: All four wheelers have a "cut engine power" switch on the handle bar that is bright red and hard to miss, and apparently is really easy to accidentally hit, at least it is if you are me.

Sure enough, it was in the off position. Flip the switch and the silly thing starts right up without even a sputter.

Oops! That was a little embarrassing!

But thankfully a very easy fix, and he had to come out in the rain anyway, to fix the fence and help me get Gemma back home. I told him he was my Knight in Shining Armor (or rather muddy jeans). He told me that I was his little airhead (in a loving way, not ugly).

Afterwards, we returned to the house to join in a dinner already in progress. It was very good! Then we relaxed at home a little while. Later we went out for some target shooting, but it had gotten really windy and cold. So he went back to the house, and I went to the barn with my mother-in-law to feed the bottle calves one more time. We watched a little TV and went to bed. I was ready for some sleep. It was a really nice day, despite of, or perhaps because of the mishaps. I wouldn't have been outside for nearly that long, or gotten to spend that time with Malcolm if things had gone otherwise. And really, my walk to the house after the breakdown was very pleasant. You see and hear so much more when your walking and not on a four wheeler!

So from hence forth, I'll not leave the house without a halter and lead (if I'm heading to horse country), my camera, fencing pliers, and Malcolm!  Ok, well I might leave Malcolm behind. I can always go fetch him if the need arises, so he doesn't need to come every time!

We pulled out this morning to finish the trip to Grand Forks, ND.

The clouds have cleared and it's been a lovely day. We arrived in Grand Forks about an hour ago and it's in the mid-70's over here. Just a lovely Spring day! We'll unload and drive 120 east and north tonight so we'll be ready to reload in the morning. We're taking another load of seed potatoes back to the town in Idaho where we picked this current load up.